1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus having a simplified arrangement for improved transmission of printing data. More particularly, the present invention relates to an inkjet printer having a head cable capable of improved signal-communication with a drive substrate to transmit printing data from the drive substrate to a head chip.
2. Description of the Related Art
Inkjet printers may be classified into shuttle type ink jet printers and array type inkjet printers. Shuttle type ink jet printers execute print while transferring one chip. Array type inkjet printers execute print in high speed using a plurality of of chips.
The shuttle and array type inkjet printers both eject ink onto a print medium according to printing data transmitted from a host such as a computer to the head chip(s) thereof, thereby forming an image. A conventional arrangement for transmitting printing data is shown in FIG. 1.
Referring to FIG. 1, a first cable 10, a drive substrate 20, a second cable 30 and a head cable 40 are typically used to transmit the printing data as described above to a head chip 35 on an ink cartridge 60.
The first cable 10 is electrically connected at one end thereof to a main board (not shown) of an inkjet printer. The main board receives printing data from a host such as a computer to transmit the printing data from the main board to the drive substrate 20. The printing data received by the drive substrate 20 is transmitted to the second cable 30 and the printing data received by the second cable 30 is transmitted to the head chip 35 of the ink cartridge 60 via the head cable 40. Then, the head chip 35 ejects ink onto a print medium according to the transmitted printing data, thereby forming an image.
With the above-mentioned arrangement for transmitting a series of printing data, the head cable 40 is attached to the rear and bottom sides of the ink cartridge 60. The second cable 30 is directly contacted with the head cable 40 for establishing an electrical connection. In addition, in order to enhance the contact capability between the second cable 30 and the head cable 40, an elastic member 50 for compressing the second cable 30 is interposed between a carrier 70 of the ink cartridge 60 and the second cable 30.
However, because the above-mentioned arrangement to transmit printing data is complicated in construction, the path of transmitting printing data is also complicated, thus there is a disadvantage in that the risk of losing printing data is increased.
Meanwhile, the elastic member 50 is fixed to a side of a printer body. Thus, the printer may be unavailable if the elastic member 50 is hardened due to repeated use or long-term use thereof. Accordingly, a disadvantage is that the life span of the printer may be shortened.
Accordingly, there is a continual need for an improved image forming apparatus having a simplified arrangement to transmit printing data to a head chip. The simplified arrangement improves contact between the head cable and a drive substrate to prevent loss of printing data.